Practice of demanding advances as a pre-condition for providing treatment must be strictly prevented: Jan Arogya Abhiyan

The authority is awaiting the report of the committee, which has been appointed by the state government to enquire into the incident. “This will help to understand the gaps or factors responsible for this unfortunate death, based on analysing the sequence of medical complications and treatment in various hospitals in this case,” said the statement.

“As JAA, while we uphold the right of people to protest on such issues, we note that certain parties and organizations have engaged in violent and unseemly protests inside the hospital, and an unrelated nursing home was attacked in misunderstanding, leading to damage. JAA strongly condemns any such attacks against hospitals or healthcare professionals,” the statement said.

Keeping in view various important broader issues related to private hospitals and maternal healthcare which have been highlighted due to this unfortunate case, Jan Arogya Abhiyan emphasised the need for urgent steps to be taken by the state government, related to the healthcare sector in Maharashtra.

“…private hospitals must not demand deposits, as a pre-condition for starting treatment. This principle must be enforced across all private and trust-run hospitals. The Maharashtra Nursing Homes Registration Act (MNHRA) Rules must be amended to include this directive as a mandatory provision. There is a need to ensure compliance with free/concessional treatment for patients from economically weaker sections, in charitable trust Hospitals that are legally required to reserve 10 per cent of their beds for free care to patients who are below the poverty line (BPL) and another 10 per cent beds for concessional treatment to those from low-income backgrounds,” said the statement.

According to the statement, the government must enforce the implementation of the Patient Rights Charter and effective grievance redressal mechanism while also ensuring that all districts and cities establish grievance redressal cells with responsible officials, to address complaints by patients related to private hospitals.

“While it may be difficult to standardize costs for every medical condition, urgent measures must be taken to fix and regulate rates of care for common conditions, including maternal and newborn care. The government must move promptly to introduce mechanisms for the regulation of treatment costs in private hospitals. This should be done through introduction of an appropriately designed Maharashtra Clinical Establishments act. An earlier draft version for this act is pending since 2014 which should be promptly finalised now,” said the statement.